I use this disk to back up my photos and videos. The drive letter "I" is recognized, but when I try to get to the data, it asks me to format. I have tried a few recovery progams recovermyfiles & eimagerecovery without limited success: only 44 files identified. As I watched it recovermy files searching I noticed, the drive letter would frequently disappear for a second, then come back, then stopped at 1552544 files out of 488,392,002. Not only are the files corrupted, but are the partitions within this drive messed up also? Windows XP home
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Regards,
Dave A

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If that is your backup disk, then it seems like the thing to do is to just reformat it, test it, and then backup all your files to the disk again if the test comes back ok.

I suggest running a prolonged and detailed read/write test. I would also make sure the external interface involved in the problem is included in the test as well...e.g. don't use some different connection to run your tests.

Actually, if you format the drive you will have no chances of recovering the Data....

He has stipulated this is a BACKUP drive. Unless he has mis-represented his situation, there is no need to "recover" the data from the drive. His time is better spent fixing the problem, vigorously testing the drive+interface+cables, and then re-backing-up his data to the drive again.

Thank you for the suggestions. Fortunately, I back up 2x, just in case this happens. However, this is not done at the same time, so I am not totally sure that all the image that are on the functioning drive are there, otherwise, I would take the advice, format, and test, test, test.
Also, tried Phoenix Data Recovery without success.
Any other suggestions?
Regards,
Dave

What you've got then is not a "backup" disk, it's an archive. They are quite different.

If the data are unique and critical to you, then the first thing you should do is a low-level copy (e.g. mirror image) of the problem disk. That is done at a level below the OS, so it won't rely on whether or not Windows recognizes the drive.

That way, if a recovery program fumbles or fails, or further erodes the integrity of the disk via its recovery activities, you've still got your more or less original raw data and file structures to work with. Since you've already tried various data recovery programs, it's possible as you noted that they already further degraded disk data integrity.

Once the copy is made, then use a recovery program.

One recovery program you've not mentioned is called File Scavenger. This program supposedly helped "debo jam" recover "all"* his data even after he had performed some very disruptive data recovery activities.

I've not used it myself so can't give it any kind of evaluation.

Here are the HWA thread, specific reference in the thread, and the FAQ page regarding this program.

There are freeware and shareware titles available. Some allow a trial period for a few weeks before you have to buy it, etc.

What you want is generally something that doesn't have to run from within Windows to copy the disk. So, it won't matter if Windows can't read the filesystem. Some people like "ghost", others like "acronis true image". A freeware program called "hdclone free edition" is also available, but has some restriction in how it can be used. Some hard drives are now shipped to the customer with a cloning-capable program on a CD. For example, MaxBlast.

Thanks agin for keeping this tread alive, as this solution is very complex, and you folks are quite patient. Funny, I happened to have Acronis, I put aside, as it was quite complicated to use, when I first tried it. So I decided to just try backup. Every time it was launched, and I chose to back up on a cd, I got an error, and then the CDR, and DvdRom listings were lost under my computer. I would reboot, and both drives would show up and work perfectly...Another problem? So, I did send this info to Acronis for their eval, but I am not exactly excited about using Acronis True Image to try to "mirror" my I drive, until those techs get back with me.
Regards,
Dave Arnold